


The Journey

by ProjectZer0Dawn



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Action & Romance, F/M, Personal Growth, Pining, Romance, Self-Discovery, Training
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProjectZer0Dawn/pseuds/ProjectZer0Dawn
Summary: Erend looks for himself and finds her everywhere. But before you love someone else, you've got to love yourself, right?
Relationships: Aloy & Erend (Horizon: Zero Dawn), Aloy/Erend (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. Changes

**Author's Note:**

> This story flows like a stream-of-consciousness. It's not pretty nor is it refined, but it's sincere and honest and I really don't know what else to do with it. I hope at least you do - I'll update it as it comes!  
>   
> I think there will be future chapters from Aloy's P.O.V. too? Let's see where this goes.

"Asking you one final time Cappy, are you absolutely sure about this?"

The way she was wavering the clipper in her hand, you'd think he were a four-year-old, in way over his head.

"Doris, I didn't stutter the last four times, I ain't gonna stutter now. Just do it already?"

She sighed, and then the buzzing was hammering in his head. First the peacocky strip of hair down the center of his skull, then his choppy sideburns, and then his plucky mustache. Block by block, his cocoa-brown locks fell right over the tiny apron and onto to the lap of his white undershirt. It took a grand total of five minutes, and all of his hair was gone.

She handed him a powdery towel to pat away stray hair, and maybe some manful tears. Why did everyone think this was so going to be so hard? It really wasn't. 

The cool breeze of faraway ocean caressed his prickly scalp. Immediately, he knew he was going to like Meridian a lot better now, with a lot less hair to get in the way.

"So, how about it?"

She brought down a mirror for him to examine the situation. 

"What the _hell_ ," was his first thought.

He looked positively infantile, like someone had robbed him of at least five years of his life. He didn't know what he expected, but Mr. Captain-of-the-Vanguard certainly didn't think he was going to come out of this looking like a pretty little boy.

His eyes sparkled piercing blue, and his skin glowed violently against stray rays of the early Meridian sun. The look on his face was a blend of awe and mild irritation - unfortunately, it was the kind of irritation that intimidated no one. It did strike an urgent need for mollycoddling though.

"Well, I'll be damned," he sighed.

"By the forge, I _warned_ you Erend!"

"Hey, relax Dory," he smiled, "this is great! Really, it is! I love how... _airy_ my head feels - no, don't say it."

And she didn't. She settled for a small smirk instead, and huffed:

"Little one, whatever this is, I hope you find your peace with it." Then, with a gentle twinge in her voice, she added, "you're doing great, you know?"

His eyebrow quirked of its own accord.

"As Captain. As our leader. You're a good man, Erend. They're hard to come by, especially as an Oseram. _She'd_ be so proud of you, baby."

What seemed like many years ago, Ersa trusted Doris with all manner of things. Right now, Erend wished he could just trust her not to bring that up.

Reading the pain in his eyes, she dropped the subject immediately, moving on to a more immediate problem.

"Are you ready to look like... _that_ , in public?"

Shooting an unimpressed look in her direction, Erend rolled his eyes and told her: "It's not that bad. I just feel...good. Like I needed this."

Smiling, she handed him his button-up and waited for him to ready himself for departure. It was a small establishment, musky and brown, and Erend had secretly snuck here for more than half of his life. An Oseram widow hiding among the Carja, making a living for herself on her own authority? It was all too scandalous to be declared out loud.

It made the place that much more juicy to him, and to Ersa.

He had been too lanky to occupy the client's chair once, and now he had become so grand, the ceiling could barely contain him.

Snapping on the last of his armor, he smiled at Doris. 

"Y'know what? How 'bout you pull out this old thing too?" he gestured towards his earring.

"Thought you'd never ask. Didn't think it'd go with the freshly-peeled look."

She gently un-tucked the solitary gold trinket out of his ear, and without a word, he nodded at her to keep it.

With that, the deal was complete. One final look at the mirror showed a brand-new man. A man who was clean, who was sober. And while Erend had always felt lost, the man in the mirror looked like one who had just decided to find his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you hate me for doing this, please have a look at Erend's voice and motion-capture artist:  
> https://www.google.com/search?q=john+hopkins+actor


	2. Fitting In

A few weeks had past, and the Vanguard knew better than to bring up the Captain's new look.

At first, he had entered the training grounds, and absolutely no one had known who he was. Some of the older lot began plotting newcomer's pranking rites, while others wondered why no one had announced fresh recruits.

If it hadn't been for his burly armor and the Captain's helmet tucked under his arm, perhaps nobody would have been any the wiser. But then Athena saw the hammer on his back and let out an unholy squeal, and suddenly the entire Vanguard had understood what they were looking at.

Apparently, along with his mustache and mohawk, the captain had also shaved off his smile and his sense of humor.

So all the guys, the gals, the lot, knew better than to bring any of it up.


	3. Climb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title inspired by the song 'Wash' by Bon Iver.

Navigating life and his own being, the way he was now, Erend could not pinpoint any one aspect of himself that he desperately wanted to fix. Naturally, he wanted to fix everything all at once, viciously and vigorously - the only way he knew how.

It had been all too easy, all his life. He was the burly one, the tank. He took damage and he dealt it, loud and unabashed. Didn't matter the nature of fight nor brawl - he was the armour and the cannon, the hammer and the steel, and right from the beginning, he never got to be anything else. That is the way he lived, and that is how he fought. Brutal, vehement, and tactless.

But he was a leader now, and this sort of thing just couldn't do. He was on fire to become something more, and he could no longer settle for being anything less.

So the first thing Erend began to work on was agility. Naturally, he dove into mountain-climbing headfirst, throwing himself into the very deep end. He kept a rope and a grappling hook, _the way she did_ , and began traversing whatever landscape came his way. He trained his body to work with momentum, and trained his mind to ignore the crippling fear of falling.

He swung from hill to cliff, and strained against gravity; he strived against his own weight, and strained under the threat of mortality. Cuts, bruises, and broken bones, all threatened to end his strife a hundred different times, every single day. But he fought against them all, and continued to pave his own path, come what may.

By the end of week three, he was flying past small hills and cliffs like it was nothing at all.

That girl was great for his form as a soldier.


	4. Stalking

After taking down a pair of ravagers and a thunderjaw with remarkable ease, Erend had an epiphany about how landscape could always help you win a fight. Thankful for newfound dexterity, he now began to mull over his long-range attacks, and his skill with stealth.

"Stealth," he laughed to himself. "Never thought _I'd_ ever have to worry about that."

Sure he had started talking to himself these days. Spending so much time in his own expert company, such intelligent conversations were bound to take place.

Weren't they?

In any case, he did worry about his sneaking abilities, especially after one unfortunate encounter with a herd of stalkers. That was the only challenge he had had to run away from so far, and he wasn't about to take that sitting down. Those machines were _invisible_ damn it, and if they could use that to their benefit, so could he.

He tried different things - camouflaged armor, crouching and kneeling, stalking in tall-grass, even going shirtless against the caramel hues of Carja sand - he had to admit, the last method was his favorite.

Still, it took undivided attention and razor-sharp focus for stealth to become a viable battle strategy. Of course, he didn't want it to be so hard, so he threw himself unarmed one day, into the raging depths of Sun Farrows.

What followed, naturally, wasn't pretty at all.

Sure he might as well have died, but by the end of it, he had learned to hold his breath and stalk around swift and easy, like a shadow. Even when his life depended on it.

 _Especially_ when his life depended on it.


	5. Long-Range

Long-ranged attacks? Now _those_ were fun.

At first, Erend was quick to equip himself with all kinds of weapons. His very first was the Hunter Bow, and he was happy enough with it to consider making it his last. He wasn't a huge fan of the others - the Sharpshot and War Bows alike. To him, there was nothing that good old fire-arrows couldn't handle. Like four Glintawks, for instance. At once. 

_Good riddance_.

Still, the whole concept of archery was a little lost on him. He felt as if too much precious time was wasted between drawing an arrow out of its sheath, to drawing it full-length for a decent shot. 

So, after a few weeks of experimentation, while he did find an adeptness with the weapon, he just got no enjoyment out of using it. Maybe it just wasn't for him.

He tried other things, too. Blast Slings were _so_ his style, but they weren't much help in quiet situations. (He _loved_ those babies, nevertheless.) Tripcasters felt like too much work and too much luggage most of the time.

Ropecasters, however, were _awesome_ , but they didn't really count as ranged weapons at all. They just helped keep the target in place so you could beat the devil out of it. And Erend did love to beat the devil out of things.

Then one night, in the middle of a bit of a crisis, the Captain was blessed by lady luck - even if it was kind of accidental.

Camping in the middle of a southern, tropical jungle, he found himself replenishing supplies and preparing an itinerary for the next day. Behind his back, a travel kit swayed too close to the fire and accidentally set off one of his Blaze canisters. It wasn't anything that hadn't happened before, but it definitely wasn't a mistake worth repeating.

Bad luck, really. 

Before he knew it, a pair of Bellowbacks and a herd of Sawtooths were on his trail.

Freshly-equipped with cut-throat stealth training, Erend dived straight for the tall-grass, pack of shards manically ablaze in hand. Despite all the work, Erend still wasn't nearly as feline as the source of his inspiration.

Hulking giant that he was, his fleeing form gave away his recusing presence, and a Sawtooth spotted him rolling into the soft grass.

It all happened within a matter of seconds. He felt the yellow light flicker to red without even seeing it. Then, as if in slow motion, he grabbed a large, blazing, razor-sharp shard and flung it full-force towards the power-pack on the machine's back.

To his utter surprise, the beast died down immediately.

That night, for the first time ever, Erend's imagination as a tinkerer sprang to life in full swing.


	6. New Space

He hurried back to his quarters in Meridian the next day, and decided to relocate his permanent lodging immediately.

It wasn't as if the Captain's lush, royal lodging wasn't amply agreeable as it was. He just needed lots of empty space and open skies for training now.

Before leaving, Erend made a special notice to the Sun-King, asking to reserve his former abode for the Savior of Meridian, if ever she were to need it.

Avad understood the mysterious ways of life and spirit, so he allowed his dear Captain this much.

Well, this, along with all the other shenanigans that he was getting up to lately.

Still, it was not as if Erend's constant vigilance was needed by Meridian at the moment - the land was enjoying its share of quiet peace and bliss, for now. It seemed that the Captain's ongoing journey was more important at this time. And by the looks of it, it was all doing him some good, too.

The man had gotten Stormbird-like, both in form as well as in general airs. His once near-empty skull was now helmed by a military fade, and his face stood neatly marked by a meticulously-kept stubble that commanded attention, and respect.

How strange it was to see a fellow so young, marked by so many hairs this white. And in such short a period of time, too.

But of course, love did all that to a person. If only the person himself knew.


End file.
